Gaudy or Godly?

Ironically, religion is not the subject of this post. The definition of Gaudy is as follows; “extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless”. Do you know anyone like that? Are you like that? When I thought of the idea for this post I was mindlessly scrolling as I often do and a familiar post came across my feed. The “my life is so perfect” post. We all know what they look like and honestly, if you went to my Facebook you’d probably see a ton. The thing that got me about this specific post was, they were using the tragedy and sadness of a situation to draw more attention to themselves and the posters? Portrayed as highly religious and upstanding individuals. Without details, I understand that this may not make much sense but, this particular post made me begin to think about my life and as always, horses.
It is so easy to be gaudy, in life and in horses. Horses are innocent animals. I go to horse shows all over the northeast and see people yanking on their horse because they aren’t turning as sharp as they’d like, kicking their horse in the side (with spurs) and violently pulling at the same time, over-undering (its a word, I’ve decided) their horse because they let a cow by, knocked a barrel or otherwise ruined their chances of winning some money that weekend. Now, don’t get me wrong, horses are tough and some times fluffy needs a spank but that’s not what I am talking about. If you watch closely you can tell simple training corrections from embarrassed in your face, showy outbursts.
Sorting is my passion so I will use that as an example. Rider is on 10-11 yr old horse, horse knows its job and has spent its whole life doing this very thing (working cows). Rider who maybe picked this up a year or two ago starts before the run thrashing their horse across the gate, left, then right as if they are stopping their imaginary cow to win the world. Most do this because they saw upper level riders do it and so naturally it must make them cooler right? Reminder, this horse has done this his whole life, he doesn’t need reminded on how to go left and right, if ridden correctly, he will do the job. Now, the run starts, flags up and off goes their partner, clean cow, now it is the riders turn, another clean cow, this time their partner picks up some stragglers and is bringing 3 or 4 to the gate. Instant panic sets in but, they don’t show that no, they thrash that horse back and forth again, forgetting all training we have. It is because of how GAUDY and in this poor horses way they are that a cow gets by. This is when the worst part happens, that rider kicks that horse with both feet right in the gut (ps. Spurs are not meant for kicking, open a book) while simultaneously pulling on both reins slamming the horse in the ground all while wearing a face that looks like a teenage bully. ITS ALL FOR SHOW. The rider may not realize but, subconsciously they know it wasn’t that horse’s fault, blaming the horse and showing out like they just made the correction of their life seems way easier.
So what does this have to do with God? Well, nothing. I use Godly in this instance as a term of being correct, owning mistakes and taking the high road. Treating animals with respect and kindness. Just because fluffy has 17 interchangeable blankets and gets fed the highest quality alfalfa doesn’t take away from the fact that he is being terribly disrespected every time he steps in the arena. The Godly way is allowing yourself in life and on the back of the horse to mess up, to struggle, life is messy, own it. You can fail, without blaming it on someone else or your horse. You can mess up without having to make a big show of your “correction”. And for the love of God (see what I did there) you can go through life events without trying to draw attention to yourself life is not all about likes my friend. When it comes to outfits I am team GAUDY all the way but, when it comes to life and horses GODLY seems like the obvious choice.
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